May 6, 2020

“Accessibility Listserv in Real Time”

Each participant was asked “what are the current problems or hot topics or issues that you are currently facing?

Textbook

Apps/Software

Zoom

Adobe Captivate

Supporting AT Needs

Accessible Remote Instruction/Work

National Deaf Center

 

Textbook Conversion during COVID

  • Voice Dream Reader and Voice Dream Scanner are immensely popular apps. For a limited time, the two are available for a total cost of $9.95: https://apple.co/2W9teQ1

Ideas for Apps/Software

All the apps! https://www.augsburg.edu/class/groves/assistive-technology/everyone/

Notetaking Apps

Identify the specific need and problem that you are trying to solve. This may help to determine what app you choose to use

https://www.augsburg.edu/class/groves/assistive-technology/everyone/notetaking/

  • Ulysses on iDevice?

    • I’ve played with it, and it seems to work nicely. Looks like a full-blown word processor that works well with VoiceOver.

    • https://ulysses.app/

  • Otter.ai

    • Basically a transcription of audio, ai generated

    • Otter works offline, the transcript would be processed once an internet connection is established

    • Otter: transcript with synced audio, highlighting, keyword cloud sync within transcribed words, search

  • AudioNote

  • Sonocen

  • OneNote

    • Ability to record and sync audio with notes

  • EverNote

  • Just Press Record 

    • iOS

    • It’s transcription is pretty accurate, and you can search for a transcribed word and go to the portion of the audio where that word appears.

  • Notability 

    • Notability syncs audio with typed text

    • is also very well received from students

    • Notability is very powerful; import, sync within program as well as across iOS devices

  • Glean

    • Streamlined for quick keyboard use of notes

Zoom Usage

Accessible Adobe Captivate Lessons 

Supporting AT Needs

  • Learning Screen magnification (SuperNova?) via Zoom

    • Goal: demonstrate the features of the desired software

    • Doesn’t transfer during Zoom screen share,

    • Can’t see what they are doing, working “blindly”

    • End user may not have the skills to communicate effectively, may not be technically savvy (keyboard shortcuts is new to them)

    • Maybe ZoomText has some different/better experience?

    • Can change profiles in SuperNova as the default profile is more geared towards screen readers, not screen magnification (i.e. use keyboard shortcuts?)

    • Options

      • Take screenshots and share via email or chat, but that doesn’t capture dynamic content, constantly Zooming in and out, changes not being conveyed

      • In-person interaction is still very helpful in cases

      • Vendor initially offered very out of the box thinking, but using TeamViewer may be an option

        • Highly recommend – it’s free, great way to help family members remotely

        • Enable you to share audio too – pretty sure this capability is built-in

Accessibility in light of moving to remote instruction/work

  • This will most likely continue for a while, what is the best way to ensure campus is still thinking about accessibility even with this period of high stress.

    • U of A Still nudging people towards accessibility, Pres is cautiously optimistic to be in-person in fall but exploring different options for different types of non in-person participation

      • Plexi-glass between faculty and students

      • Dividers between desks

      • Continuously changes

      • Tries to keep someone at the table for these larger meetings to keep the accessibility championing going

    • U of WA working on proactive design

      • Keep things really simple to get people to at least do something

        • Contact Colleges to create websites as they move online

        • 20 Tips for Getting Started in Accessibility

        • Avoid using PDFs; put content in Canvas page

        • Pointing to resources for captioning videos

          • Have a free captioning program (with parameters though)

        • Encourage people who have YouTube videos to edit their own videos

      • Being mindful of workloads and anxiety level

      • “Do something but not at the risk of paralyzing them” is the goal; don’t overwhelm them

      • Business school has office hours to discuss accessibility issues

      • Have 150 Accessibility Liaisons

        • Fairly low commitment to help improve accessibility efforts across the university

        • Been in place for years

    • I think one of the issues with keeping accessibility in the forefront is the closed doors executive team meetings.  How do we keep someone involved in AT or accessibility in the conversation?


      • Find your champion in that group

      • Ask the person in charge if the accessibility voice is included

      •  Emphasize 3 different things – to also consider when looking at accessibility (Ideas from book on UD, Reach Everyone, Teach Everyone)

        • Different learning needs or learning preferences

        • Everyone’s environment is now different. Can’t guarantee location is ideal for video exams, for example

        • Device differences. School in Chicago example where 75% have access only through smartphones, no laptops

    • At UC Riverside, we’ve had the experience of many departments coming to us for collaboration on ensuring universal design, accessibility, and best practices; we of course continue to have representatives from office keeping access at forefront

  • disability groups often not included with diversity committees, which is sad

    • Find your champions

    • Find your data

    • Find your user stories

    • Find competition – what is a peer institution doing for XYZ and note that you should be do

National Deaf Center